Check out this ministry...

Our church is a part of the "Advent Conspiracy" where we are committing this Christmas season to:
1) Worship More
2) Spend Less
3) Give More
4) Love All

Part of us "loving all" is us giving to a global ministry. We have chosen Living Water International. I spent some time looking at their website...they are doing some amazing work.
Here's some info I took from their website: The world's number one killer is unsafe drinking water. This killer takes the lives of nearly 14,000 people each day and is responsible for 80% of the world's illnesses. According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water.
Drilling water wells is one of the most common solutions to this problem. So this guy from Living Water International developed a portable well drilling rig that can be driven to remote areas. Short term teams help drill these wells. LWI teams meet physical needs through the provision of clean water and spiritual needs through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pretty awesome, eh?

My 5 year old is writing Scripture...what's yours doing?

This morning, we found that Jonah apparently believes there is some Scripture left out of our Bible...so he wrote his OWN verse! We have been memorizing verses from the Bible together lately. Here's the one he wrote:
"God is grat (great). God or Jesus and he want to help and do not be afraid." Then Jonah gave us the "address" of the Scripture: it is apparently found in "Robert 4:50". (Robert is his middle name).

I'm proud of Jonah. I'm not sure his verse will hold up to the tests of canonization...but maybe we can include it in the Apocrypha?

A hospital visit with my friend David...

Today I had the privilege to drive to Palo Alto to visit with my friend David Huddleston. He is in the Veterans Hospital right now with a TBI (traumatic brain injury) that he suffered while in Turkey with the Air Force. Man, it was sure good to see him. David isn't able to speak (yet) and he slept through most of my visit with him today...he has been uncomfortable at night so he doesn't get much sleep. It's OK because I'm used to young people sleeping when I start talking!
David was in my youth group back in Riverside. He is one of the greatest guys you will ever meet. We would go snowboarding together with a couple of the other guys and gals from The Grove.
I am so impressed by David's parents, Patty and Steve. They have been at his side this whole time (about 6 weeks now). The recovery that David experiences will be largely due to his parents and the tireless care they are giving him. They have him pointing at things, shaving his head and face, pointing to words on a chalkboard, and even communicating when he needs to go to the bathroom!
As I think of my visit with David today, I realize that after I heard about his accident, all I wanted to do was to SEE David and to be WITH him. I didn't have the greatest words to say...but it wasn't about my words...it was all about being NEAR my friend who is hurting right now. It sure was good to see my friend today...

Jonah and the scissors...

Tonight, I noticed that Jonah was in his room alone and quiet for about 15 minutes. This ALWAYS means something is going on in there that shouldn't be! So when I opened the door, he is sitting on the ground and shirtless. He has his scissors in hand and he has SHREDDED his green soccer jersey with his scissors. All he said was, "My soccer jersey is too long!".

His jersey looks like he got into a fight with a bear. It is reminiscent of the crop-tops I used to wear in the early 80's.

Payton's "Stay Up Late" night...

Tonight was Payton's "Stay Up Late" night. She dressed up as a firefighter and left her costume on while we played games together. We played pick up sticks and a game of "speed" with playing cards. Good times...

Marshmallow Baseball was a "hit"...

Well, let's just say we had a legendary game of marshmallow baseball with the youth last Sunday. The kids and leaders brought their "A" game. The leaders won the game with 71 runs. 6 of my leaders scored the maximum 10 runs for their at bat...I scored the "1" run.
On a deeper note, it was cool to see that these young people are looking to have fun and get crazy...and so were my leaders! A jr. high boy named Joseph Stickel (nicknamed "Stick") took the Defensive MVP award...he snagged the marshmallow three times in a row and shoved it in his mouth AFTER it had been on the dirty floor and passed through some hands.
I find that the kids in our group have nicknames that they like to go by:
- "Stick"
- "Yeah-Yeah"...this kid looks just like the boy in Sandlot
- "P.K." ...he's the pastor's kid
I feel weird calling them by these names, but they seem to prefer it. I'm trying to get them to call me "T-bone"...it's not working.

Mountain Bike Ride through the woods

This is a picture of Henry Cowell Park which is less than a mile from my house. Today, I worked at 4:00am again and I was off at 11am. I thought I was going home to take a nap, but it was such a BEAUTIFUL day that I decided instead to take a ride through the park. I strapped on my camel back, grabbed my Bible & Journal, and put some new David Crowder on the iPod and took off. It was such a good time. I stopped at the ocean view bench where you can see the beach just beyond the mountain valley.

If you ever come up to visit us, I will take you on the mandatory bike ride through Henry Cowell Park. There are rivers, railroad tracks, bridges, trees, and dirt paths...all outside my front door. The list of the "lucky" ones who have taken a ride so far are: Mike Rodriguez, Trevor Christmas (2x's), Dan Lance, and David O'Rafferty. Who's next??

4:00am...seriously

I've been working the early shift at Starbucks...4:00am! Which means I get up at 3:20am. When I get out of bed, my nipples are so cold they could cut glass. Getting up that early is great when you're going snowboarding, but not for work. The amazing thing is that people are at the door at 5:00am when we open. I'm glad I don't have THEIR jobs...

Marshmallow Baseball

Tomorrow at our youth gathering, I'm introducing one of my favorite games: MARSHMALLOW BASEBALL. It is a game that was thought up from the bowels of youthwork at The Grove. It involves hitting marshmallows with a baseball bat, while others retrieve the mallows and throw them at the person who hit it. There's also the element of eating the marshmallow after it's been hit and scooted across the dirty floor and through some dirtier teenage hands.

I'm a little nervous introducing this game to my new youth group. It's kind of like saying "I love you" for the first time to your girlfriend. Will they accept it? Reject it? This game is such a deep part of who I am as a man...as a follower of Christ...as a human being...and as a barista. I guess I just have to put myself out there and hopefully they'll return the love.

The youth ministry has been good so far...challenging in some ways, and exciting in others. We currently have about 500 people in our church, and about 10-15 youth (6th-12th grade) that show up for the youth gathering. I've decided to take us all through the book of John these first few months. We're looking at WHO Jesus is, what He SAID, what He DID, WHY He did it, and asking HOW should we respond to all of it.

We had our first leaders meeting at our house last Sunday. There are about 10 great adults who are committed to these young people (10 adults and about 20 youth...pretty cool ratio, eh?). Trevor, the youth director before me, did a good job of recruiting some great people to work with these youth...I'm thankful for these people. Today, one of my leaders, Eddie, took some of the youth to a place called "Sky High". It is a huge room of trampolines. I couldn't make it with them, but it's so cool that he initiated this event.

Think of us tomorrow around 11am as we smack white puffs of sugar around a dirty gymnasium floor...